Willey fears referrals will weaken umpiring

Former Test umpire Peter Willey has expressed fears that the referral system, which will be introduced in the longer version of the game next month, will harm umpires more than it aids them.

Willey, current chairman of the first-class umpires' association in England, said increasing reliance on technology will only blunt the power of judgement of the umpires.

"Umpires who have done Tests for five or six years have lost the art of giving out run-outs and stumpings - they just refer everything," Willey said in the October issue of Wisden Cricketer.

"If you have all the technology for a number of years you are going to lose the art of giving out caught-behinds, lbws and everything else because the third umpire is doing everything for you.

"The umpire will end up hardly having to make a decision.

Then he stops doing Tests and goes back into first-class cricket and he has to start learning again. It could be dangerous for an umpire's career," added Willey, who stood in 26 Tests between 1976 and 1986.

Willey suggested umpires stand for one Test per series to reduce the pressure on them, especially if they have a poor game.

"I would increase the amount of Test officials and let them only stand in one Test of a series; if an umpire has a poor first Test he is under pressure in the next game - I don't care how strong you are you'll be thinking about having a bad Test.

"Change the umpires for every Test match so they are fresh with no baggage from Test to Test. When I umpired in Tests I'd do one Test abroad might make a few bad decisions, come home and it is forgotten. You have five or six weeks off then you go somewhere else," he said.